HUNNEMAN: Summer family fun

When I was a kid, wild blueberries grew in the hills behind my
grandparents' home in Massachusetts. Before summer Sunday dinners,
we would hike into the hills and pick berries until our pails
overflowed. The bushes grew low to the ground, so it was always the
kids bending over doing the picking while the grown-ups
supervised.

My grandmother would sometimes make a blueberry pie for dessert,
but just as often we'd eat the berries as is, or in a bowl with a
little cream from the top of the milk bottle.

"People say this reminds them so much of growing up," Graesser
told me on Monday as we stood at his Temecula farm, looking out
over acres of growing blueberries. "A lot of them bring their kids
and grandkids."

The Graesser family, led by father Ray, moved to Southwest
County in 1977 and grew avocados from many years in the hills west
of Temecula.

Mike Graesser, a Linfield School graduate, decided to continue
in the family farm business. In 1997, the family bought the 10-acre
site on the east side. Several years ago, Ray and Mike decided
growing blueberries would not only be unique to the region, but
could also provide some good family fun.

"There are lots of great grapes and great avocados grown in this
area," Mike said. "Blueberries would be something different."

Graesser and his family planted blueberries on their land on the
east side of Temecula near Wine Country and hoped to attract
visitors to a "U-Pick" blueberry farm.

Last year, they planted 2 1/2 acres of the berries.

"We were really pleased by the number of people who showed up,"
Mike said. "This year we've expanded that to 8 acres."

The Temecula Berry Company not only grows blueberries for people
to pick, they sell the berries at their farm and at several markets
across Southwest County.

The farm, at 39700 Cantrell Road, is open for U-Pick blueberries
Thursday to Sunday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The berry-picking season
began last month and will go to about July 4, Mike said.

Visitors from across Southern California have found their way to
the farm, mostly through word-of-mouth advertising.

"We've been really surprised and how far they've come," Mike
said. "People tell us they really have a good time."

Their Web site --
www.temeculaberryco.com
--
offers not only directions to the farm, but recipes, information
about school field trips and tips for picking your own berries.

And the good news, especially for those of us who now have kids
and grandkids of our own, is that the berries planted there are the
southern highbush variety that grow 4 to 6 feet tall.

"People who are used to the low-growing berries are always happy
to hear they don't have to bend way over," Mike said.